Twitter CEO Elon Musk went to the US Capitol on Thursday to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the billionaire business tycoon said on his social media platform.
“Just met with [McCarthy] & [Jeffries] to discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties,” Musk said in a tweet.
McCarthy (R-Calif.), who celebrated his 58th birthday on Thursday, declined to comment on details of the meeting, only quipping to reporters: “He came to wish me happy birthday. We’ve been friends for years.”
According to reports, his audience with Jeffries (D-NY) appears to have been incidental.
At the time Musk arrived at McCarthy’s office, Jeffries happened to be receiving a law enforcement briefing with the speaker regarding preparations at the Capitol in the event of protests related to the death of Tyre Nichols after an encounter with Memphis police, CNN reported.
As Jeffries was leaving, he had a brief interaction with the Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter CEO, where the topic of Twitter came up, according to the news outlet.
The meeting comes as the House Oversight Committee plans to hold a hearing in February on Twitter’s handling of The Post’s October 2020 bombshell story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Twitter barred the distribution of articles that linked President Biden to his son’s foreign business relationships weeks ahead of the 2020 election, claiming without evidence that the articles violated a “hacked materials” policy.
Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) told former Twitter officials Vijaya Gadde, Yoel Roth and James Baker that the hearing will examine their decision and asked for them to appear.
The panel can vote to compel them to appear if they do not do so voluntarily.
Documents released by Musk through the so-called “Twitter Files” reports show early internal doubts about claiming the documents were hacked since they came from a Delaware computer repairman who produced paperwork showing Hunter Biden legally abandoned his laptop.
Musk’s visit to the Capitol also comes amid reports that former President Donald Trump is eager to return to Twitter after being unbanned from the platform by Musk in November.
